Jumping in — part 2
I have encountered many challenges since moving to Rochester, but the absolute bane of my existence is the Rochester Genesee Regional Transit Authority (RGRTA), sometimes known as the Regional Transportation Service (RTS). They also have a paratransit service called Lift Line. between Lift Line and RTS, there is a culture of intense hatred of, and absolute disregard for people with disabilities. It has been this way forever, it seems. The company has been sued, protested, and everything legal in between, yet these people behave with impunity. They don’t care, and they know that basically, there is nothing really that can be done about them. True, there are individuals withing the company, and certain bus drivers who are nice, but as a whole, I feel that RTS is beyond redemption. Of course, that doesn’t stop us from advocating for their customers who have been wronged, or continuing to try to get them to “straighten up and fly right”.
The current CEO is a charming “gentleman” named Mark Aesch, but don’t let his charm fool you. The man is an oily, slimeball, a liar who will outright lie to your face, and feel no shame, yet who will behave like a petulant child if he feels that you have wronged him. I experienced the horrors of RTS from the first time that I rode, and I got a taste of Mark Aesch when I attended the RGRTA Board meeting on December 7, 2006. I got the full Monty when I attended the Town Hall meeting on December 14, 2006.
The Board Meeting
Let me tell you first about the Board meeting. RGRTA Board meetings are held on the 1st Thursday of each month at their headquarters,usually in the conference room. Unlike every other board meeting that I have ever attended, though the public is welcome, members of the audience are not allowed to speak. Also, Mark Aesch, the CEO runs the meetings, NOT the Board Chair. In fact, it seems to me that the Board is fed only what Mr. Aesch wants them to know, and the Board seems to be a rubber-stamp Board, doing exactly what Aesch wants, with no dissention.
This Board meeting, oddly, was held in the bus garage because it was felt that there would not be enough room to accommodate all of the people who were attending. The garage entrance was inaccessible, so I had to enter through the bus bay. Needless to say, it was freezing in there! The media was present, which spoke to the importance of this meeting, as the Board was going to vote on discontinuingthree bus routes that went throught the Western suburbs — routes 76, 83, and 95. The audience was full of Lift Line users who were worried, and rightly so, because if these routes were cut, the corresponding Lift Line service would also be discontinued for these riders.
RTS is a strange bird. They seem to be proud of their shoddy performance and poor customer service. They have a nasty attitude, and sneaky ways. It appears that their Standard Operating Procedure is to disseminate misinformation or outright lies, or to hide information in places where most members of the public wouldn’t think to look. For example, there were supposed to be public hearings on the propsed discontinuance of the three bus routes. Mark Aesch complained that only 1 person showed up for the hearing. Of course that would happen when you put the announcement in the Rochester Business Journal, instead of your own website! No wonder almost the entire public hates them!
As it turned out, the Board voted unanimously to end the routes effective January 1st. The Lift Line users shouted and staged a mini protest, but were quickly ushered out, with the media in tow. Good for them! One of the Board members asked just as the meeting was about to be adjourned if it was true the the Lift Line users would lose ther services. Mark Aesch replied “Yes and no”. According to him, Lift Line users would get to keep their services until March 31st. As it turned out, it was far more complicated than that, and many Lift Line folks still lost their services on the 1st of Janaury.
December’s Town Hall meeting
RTS has Town Hall meetings once each month. Well, they’re supposed to. December’s meeting was originally supposed to take place at the Irondequoit Town Hall, in Irondequoit, a suburb of Rochester. On the day of the meeting, the location was suddenly changed to the Pittsford Library, in Pittsford, another suburb. Needless to say, since the change of information was not publicized, the only folks who showed up were a gentleman whose son is a Lift Line user, and the Advocacy Crew (Arlene, Dean, and myself), along with two of our interns. Arlene found out about the change because she happened to call RTS for some other reason, and on a hunch, asked about the Town Hall meeting.
Following is Arlene’s summary of the meeting. This is an overview of the entire meeting. My summary, which follows, focuses only on questions that I had of Mr. Aesch, along with his respones, if any, and my reactions.
RGRTA Town Hall Meeting, December 14, 2006
The RGRTA Town Meeting was held at the Pittsford Town Hall, and lasted about one hour.
RGRTA News
Mark Aesch also spoke about a new Advanced Traveler Information System that is being rolled out. This system will locate buses by satellite, displaying their position on an electronic monitor at downtown bus shelters and on the Internet. Riders will be given continuously updating arrival times.
Lift Line
Mark Aesch also revealed the Lift Line Ride Reminder system was not ready yet. They are hoping to bring it online in January 2007. Arlene Wilson, CDR Systems Advocate, asked how the new 20-minute window for Lift Line scheduled rides is working. Mr. Aesch stated he did not have current data on that.
A gentleman from the Webster/Penfield area expressed frustration at his son not being able to obtain a Lift Line ride for the family dinner on Thanksgiving. He further stated that his son could be transported during the week and wanted to know why he could not obtain a ride on that Thursday. Mark Aesch stated there could be several reasons; the holiday and weekend schedule may be different. He explained how Lift Line is a mirrored service of RTS, and can only go where it does, when it does. He also explained about the ADA, and how it limits service provision to ¾ mile beyond the route.
Deaf Access
Dean DeRusso, RCIL Deaf Systems Advocate, asked questions about disability access of the bus fare box system, signage posted too high and driver communication access for deaf and deaf/blind consumers using the bus system. Mr. DeRusso also asked about where to obtain multiple ride passes, outside of business hours. Mark Aesch took careful, detailed notes. He then referred Mr. DeRusso to the RGRTA website for a listing of where bus passes can be obtained, and informed him that all day ride passes are sold by the driver, on the bus.
Mr. Aesch also suggested that training for bus drivers on deaf communication might be beneficial. He also shared that new fare boxes were being requisitioned, as part of new capital purchasing. These new fare boxes will have smart card technology, so a person can waive their card in front of the sensor, and have their fare debited.
Lift Access & Pass Ups
Anita Cameron, a Systems Advocate from the Regional Center for Independent Living, introduced herself and shared her dissatisfaction with RGRTA bus service. She gave specific dates, and times of when she had been passed up by RTS drivers. She also documented an instance when a driver had sworn at her, and several instances of when lifts were inoperable. Mark Aesch, initially incredulous, took copious notes, and later apologized for the swearing incident.
Ms. Cameron also requested a number be established to the Operations Center, so people who are having issues with the lifts can call. Mr. Aesch did not feel this would be necessary, and people could contact the call center.
General Information
Ann Parsons expressed her displeasure with the new general information telephone system. RGRTA has changed the system to be a multiple step system, and has reprogrammed the outgoing voice to reference bus travel by direction (north, south, east, west). She explained the difficulty of this for people who are blind or visually impaired. Mr. Aesch did not understand, so Ms. Parsons explained further that people are travel trained to use the bus independently by professional staff. If changes such as these are to be made, the staff needs to be appraised of this, so they can train people based upon current information. Arlene Wilson also commented that major road and some routes do not go true north, south, east or west, making orientation that much more difficult. Mr. Aesch took notes.
Closing
Mark Aesch reaffirmed the desire of RGRTA to address all concerns of people and requested the personal information of the people with questions and issues in attendance, to get back to them on their concerns.
Questions, suggestions and RTS responses at the 12/14/06 Town Hall Meeting
I have been here only a short time, and have already had 4 separate incidents of broken lifts. What is RTS doing to ensure that their bus lifts are properly maintained? Answer: CEO Mark Aesch maintains that the lifts are cycled every day, and does not understand why I am having problems. He said that 4 incidents of broken lifts in 3 weeks sounded excessive. I responded that I keep a log of all events that happen, such as a broken lift, or an especially rude driver. I did have this log with me. After the meeting, I was approached by a gentleman who said that he worked in Maintenance. I told him about each incident, and showed him my log. He asked specific questions about how the lift was behaving, and showed me the forms that the drivers use to make reports and evaluations. When I finished responding to his questions, he asked me if I thought that the problem was due to driver training, or actual mechanical issues. I told him that I felt that the problem was a combination of the two. I gave him my contact information and asked him to get back in touch with me. He returned my call the next day, and confirmed what I already knew. He further informed me that he was well aware that there are lazy drivers who don’t want to take the time to operate a lift, and he has set a message to all supervisors that drivers who lie about broken lifts will be written up and disciplined.
How is RTS tracking the number of complaints about broken or malfunctioning lifts? Answer: Mr. Aesch did not answer this.
I have called both the customer service line, and the general line regarding complaints. Answer: Mr. Aesch suggested that I call the call center number. I asked if all those calls wouldn’t be overwhelming to call center staff, and Aesch was somewhat insulting, saying that they had to have a centralized number for everything, not, say, one number for wheelchair users who are left-handed, and one for wheelchair users who are right-handed…he tried to go on, but I stopped him.
There should be a phone number that passengers who use wheelchairs can call to report these specific issues. Perhaps, the number can be the same number that the bus drivers use to report broken lifts. That way, the problem will be reported, and proper statistics can be compiled from these reports. Answer: Aesch thought that the idea was an interesting one.
Indeed, what is RTS’s policy regarding broken lifts? What is the driver supposed to do? Answer: Aesch did not know the answer to that, but said that he would look it up.
What is RTS going to do to address the problem of drivers not announcing stops? Answer: Aesch admitted that this is a problem, but did not offer any solutions.
I have been passed up so many times that I have lost count. Answer: Aesch tried to dispute this, but I stood my ground.
One of the first things that struck me about riding the bus here is the resentment towards passengers who use wheelchairs that many bus drivers exhibit. I am aware of the two-minute restriction that drivers must adhere to, and it is obvious to me that when a driver stops to board a wheelchair-using passenger, that two-minute restriction is violated because the driver must spend time securing the passenger’s wheelchair. When a driver is running late, or feels that he or she will be running late, it is not uncommon for them to pass up a passenger in a wheelchair. Answer: Aesch claims that the two-minute restriction is untrue, that perhaps I heard it on the street, or in another city. I responded that I have never even heard of such a policy until I came here to Rochester. Later, I learned that the staff person who told this to our group was present, but said nothing.
When the driver does stop, the resentment towards the passenger is clear, and often spills over, so that other passengers express resentment and hostility toward the passenger with a disability. What is RTS doing to address this “culture of hostility”? Answer: Aesch apologized for the rudeness of the bus drivers, but did not answer the question.
What is the policy regarding snow removal at bus stops? Answer: Snow removal at the stops and shelter is not their responsibility.
Last week, when we had the somewhat heavy snow, I left for work early in the morning, but since the snow was not shoveled, I had to return home and call a taxi to get to work. As we get deeper into winter, I expect that we will have much heavier snows, which will affect the operation of bus lifts and ramps, since they must be on a flat surface to operate properly. What have you done in the past, and what do you intend to do in the future? Answer: For the past three years, they have asked the sheriff to have inmates do the snow removal at the most widely used bus stops. RTS is willing to set this up for certain bus stops that are often used by people with disabilities. He asked that we call the call center number to put in our requests.
RGRTA Board Meeting February 1, 2007:
A View from the Audience
February 1st 2007 was the monthly RGRTA Board meeting. This time around the meeting was located at their main office in the boardroom– not the bus garage. The public seating area had approximately twenty people, in three rows representing: the RGRTA union, the deaf community and people with disabilities.
The board meeting began with an overview of the agenda that was established for the day. There were fewer board members at this meeting then the one in December 2006.[1] The minutes from the previous meeting were approved. There were some interesting customer service statistics in the reports presented by staff:
Annunciation (calling out) of bus stops: 24%
Customer satisfaction with bus cleanliness: 36%.
The Bottom Line
It was reported by the board that this time around the financial report was “more accurate and grounded”. In light of this, RGRTA will not consider requesting further aid from the Governor of New York, because:
For this fiscal year, RGRTA had a 6 million dollar profit.
Lift Line was under budget by 3.7 %.
This means the bus company is no longer losing money—it is covering expenses so well, even Lift Line, the Black sheep of the mass transit family, is doing well.
So, we must then we must ask:
Where does this surplus money go?
Who decides what it will be used for?
Does the board get to vote on the reallocations?
Does the community get any input?
Community Recommendations
The board then passed all proposed resolutions (union health insurance changes, contracts for various services) and then adjourned the meeting. They announced they were going into executive session, so the public had to leave. One can only wonder what was being discussed in Executive Session.
Perhaps the RGRTA board should consider:
Stopping cuts to any more routes
Restoring abbreviated services to peripheral communities
Extending Lift Line services to 1 mile outside of the fixed route, instead of ¾ mile
Establishing premium services for border service areas
Providing alternative fixed route vehicles (small buses) for abbreviated fixed route provision.
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[1] The January 2007 meeting was cancelled. When asked why, the response was “No particular reason.”